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German airline Discover’s pilots to strike

Pilots with the German airline Discover, a subsidiary of Lufthansa, announced they would stage a fresh 48-hour strike from Monday, accusing management of refusing to respect collective agreements.

Published: 3 February 2024 09:28 CET

German airline Discover's pilots to strike

Discover Airlines, which until last September was known as Eurowings Discover, is part of the Lufthansa group and employs 2,000 people. Photo: Christof STACHE/AFP.

Friday’s announcement, by the Vereinigung Cockpit (VC) union, came a week after a strike called by the pilots and air stewards last week and a five-hour stoppage before Christmas.

“Even after two days of strike, Discover’s management still hasn’t made an offer,” said Marcel Groels, who is negotiating for VC, which represents 9,600 pilots in Germany.

The pilots want agreement on a structured salary scale and fixed conditions for flights and rest times.

Discover Airlines, which until last September was known as Eurowings Discover, is part of the Lufthansa group and employs 2,000 people. Based in Frankfurt, southern Germany, it has a fleet of 24 planes handling short, medium, and long-haul flights to tourist destinations.

This latest strike comes as Germany faces a growing wave of social unrest in the transport sector. On Friday, public transport workers across Germany walked off the job. On Thursday, tens of thousands of passengers were grounded on Thursday as airport security staff across the country staged a walkout.

READ ALSO: Travel chaos as public transport strikes hit Germany

And last week, train drivers staged a five-day walkout, their longest ever and the fourth time they have gone on strike since November.

The Verdi union, which represents ground staff at Lufthansa, has also warned that a strike for the whole group is “very probable”, with wage talks stalled.

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What's the environmental fee Lufthansa, Austrian and Swiss airlines will charge you?

How much will the cost be?

The extra cost will be added to all flights sold and operated by the group departing from EU countries as well as Britain, Norway and Switzerland, the group said in a statement.

It will apply to flights from January next year and, depending on the route and fare, will vary from €1 to €72.

What’s the justification for the cost?

“The airline group will not be able to bear the successively increasing additional costs resulting from regulatory requirements in the coming years on its own,” said Lufthansa.

The group — whose airlines include Lufthansa, Eurowings, Austrian, Swiss and Brussels Airlines — said it is facing extra costs from EU regulations related to sustainable aviation fuel (SAF).

The aviation sector is among the toughest to decarbonise and SAF — a biofuel that produces lower carbon emissions than traditional jet fuel — is seen as a crucial ingredient to hitting emissions targets but is currently more expensive to produce.

In March, Airlines for Europe, which represents the continent’s largest airline groups including Lufthansa, complained that production of the fuel in Europe is minimal and lags far behind projects launched in the United States.

Lufthansa said it also faces extra costs from changes to the EU’s emissions trading system, and other regulatory measures.

The group aims to halve its net carbon emissions by 2030 compared to 2019, and to go carbon neutral by 2050.

What is the EU legislation?

The EU legislation requires airlines to gradually increase use of the fuel on routes departing EU airports.

Carriers will need to include two percent of SAF in their fuel mix from next year, rising to six percent in 2030 and then soaring to 70 percent from 2050.

What’s the sate of Lufthansa group’s finances?

After having to be bailed out by the German government during the coronavirus pandemic, Lufthansa racked up healthy profits in 2022 and 2023 as travel demand roared back.

But it was hard hit by a series of strikes at the start of this year, reporting a hefty first-quarter loss.

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